This article describes both stats that players have and stats found on items.
1 Base Stats
1.1 Hitpoints (HP)
1.2 Mana
1.3 Endurance
1.4 Armor Class (AC)
1.5 Attack (ATK)
1.6 Haste
1.7 Purity
2 Main Stats
2.1 Strength (STR)
2.2 Stamina (STA)
2.3 Agility (AGI)
2.4 Dexterity (DEX)
2.5 Wisdom (WIS)
2.6 Intelligence (INT)
2.7 Charisma (CHA)
3 Heroic Stats
3.1 Heroic Strength (hSTR)
3.2 Heroic Stamina (hSTA)
3.3 Heroic Agility (hAGI)
3.4 Heroic Dexterity (hDEX)
3.5 Heroic Wisdom (hWIS)
3.6 Heroic Intelligence (hINT)
3.7 Heroic Charisma (hCHA)
4 Resistances
4.1 Resist Adjust
4.2 Poison (PR)
4.3 Magic (MR)
4.4 Disease (DR)
4.5 Fire (FR)
4.6 Cold (CR)
4.7 Corruption
5 Skill Modifiers
6 Mod2
6.1 Combat Effects
6.2 Combat HP Regen
6.3 Combat Mana Regen
6.4 Combat End Regen
6.5 Spell Shield
6.6 Shielding
6.7 Damage Shielding
6.8 DoT Shielding
6.9 Damage Shield Mitig[ation]
6.10 Avoidance
6.11 Accuracy
6.12 Stun Resist
6.13 Strike Through
6.14 Heal Amount
6.15 Spell Damage
6.16 Clairvoiyance
7 Skill Damage Mods
8 Effect (Worn or Combat)
8.1 Worn Effects
8.2 Click Effects
8.3 Effect Slot Normalization
9 Focus Effects
9.1 Old Pet Focus
10 Weapon Stats
10.1 Skill
10.2 Base Dmg
10.3 Backstab Dmg
10.4 Delay
10.5 Dmg Bon[us]
10.6 Bane Dmg
11 Other Stats
11.1 Item Tags
11.2 Class
11.3 Race
11.4 Slot Restrictions
11.5 Augmentation Slots
11.6 Size
11.7 Weight
11.8 Weight Red[uction]
11.9 Capacity
11.10 Size Cap
11.11 Recommended Level
11.12 Required Level
11.13 EXPENDABLE
11.14 Charges
11.15 Evolving
11.16 This item can be used in tradeskills
11.17 Potion Belt Enabled
11.18 Lore Group
12 Equipped Item Background Colors
13 Choosing Between Stats
13.1 AC vs. HP
Hitpoints help you survive more hits and spell damage. HP is abundant on gear, and gear of the same tier provides roughly the same amount in all slots, with a few exceptions. HP regenerates at a rather slow pace when in combat, but regeneration can be boosted through spells, items and AA.
You gain more HP by levelling, and several AAs exist that increase HP, such as General Sturdiness and Natural Durability (General tab). HP is also gained through Stamina and Heroic Stamina (see later sections).
HP can be temporarily increased by buffs, such as Cleric, Paladin, Druid and Shaman buffs, and clickies.
Almost all spells cost mana to cast, and a larger mana pool allows you to "burn" longer. Mana is abundant on gear which is usable by casters, and gear of the same tier provides roughly the same amount in all slots, with a few exceptions. Mana regenerates at a rather slow pace when in combat, but regeneration can be boosted through spells, items and AA.
You can gain more mana with the caster- and hybrid-only AA Mental Stamina (Archetype tab). Mana is also increased by Intelligence/Wisdom and Heroic Intelligence/Wisdom (see later sections).
Only a few spells exist that increase mana. Enchanter spells can increase it, and clickies exist that give extra mana.
Endurance was introduced as a stat with the December 18, 2003 patch, and replaced the old stamina bar. Stamina (unrelated to the stat STA/Stamina) used to be a fixed total amount, depending on level and possibly STA, and was depleted by jumping and swinging heavy weapons. It regenerated quickly, and could be replenished by certain spells such as Yaulp. It was never really properly used or implemented as the game progressed, and was thus removed.
Endurance is available to all classes, but is only useful to melee and hybrid classes. It is abundant on gear like HP and mana, and is used for certain combat abilities (disciplines). Hybrids use them in a lesser manner, while pure melee are heavy users of it. The old innate melee abilities such as Monk Flying Kick and Rogue Backstab do not use endurance. Combat abilities exist that regenerate endurance (for example Respite); otherwise it regenerates slowly like HP and mana.
You can gain more endurance with the melee-only AA Hardy Endurance (Archetype tab) and with STA, Heroic Strength, Heroic Agility and Heroic Dexterity.
Shaman spells can increase endurance, as well as clickies.
AC is displayed as one number to the player, but in reality consists of two numbers behind the scenes.
First, "avoidance AC" is increased by your Defense skill and AGI (suppoedly only up to 305). This part determines the chance of being missed, i.e. hits not connecting at all. When you see "a skeleton tries to slash YOU, but misses!", that is a miss based on the roll of the avoidance AC.
Second, "mitigation AC" is increased by AC from gear. It determines the "roll" of damage you take when a monster hits you in melee - after it has been determined that the hit hasn't missed. In brief, a monster's damage output consists of two parts: Damage bonus (DB) and damage interval (DI). The damage bonus is fixed (for example 200) and is applied with guarantee (before possible further mitigation, damage absorbation or invulnerabilitY) to every hit you take that connects. The damage interval (for example 35) is multiplied by a random number between 1 and 20 (for example: 14 * 35 = 490) for each hit, and along with the damage bonus, you would in the example take 200 + 490 = 690 damage. Mitigation AC reduces, on average, the 1-20 multiplier. When a monster strikes you, the monster's ATK is weighed against your AC, and you for example have AC much higher than the monster's ATK (fighting a low level monster for example), you will see that you mostly take very small hits due to the DI multiplier often being low. Go up against a high level monster and you will more often take bigger hits from getting hit by a high DI multiplier.
The effectiveness of AC also varies from class to class, and there are special rules, such as shields providing more effective AC than other items and many other rules.
AC is found on almost all gear. Some older pieces of gear have no AC, most old weapons did not have AC, and some augmentations are also without AC, favoring HP instead.
AC is heavily increased by the Defense skill (giving avoidance AC). It can be increased via buffs primarly from clerics and paladins, and to a lesser degree from enchanters and many other self-buffs and clickies.
Read detailed information about how AC works here.
Related to AC, ATK determines your "roll" of damage when hitting a monster in melee, judged against their AC. More ATK will not give you bigger hits, but increase your average damage as you more often land bigger hits within your damage range. You might experience this by noticing that you often land your maximum possible hit when fighting.
The ATK value displayed is only relevant for the weapon in your Primary slot (main hand). If you dual wield, the ATK value for your secondary weapon cannot be seen.
ATK is found on plenty of gear (a Mod2 stat called "Attack"), but there is a cap of 250 ATK gained from worn ATK. This can be increased by the melee- and hybrid-only AA Enhanced Aggression (Archetype tab).
ATK can be buffed by spells from rangers for example, along with various self-buffs. Clickies also exist that buff ATK.
Haste increases the amount of hits you do within a time span. The base attack rate is 100%, and can be increased to a maximum of 225%.
To calculate your new attack delay with haste, the formula is:
Hasted Delay = Weapon Delay * 100 / Haste
For example, assume you wield a weapon with a delay of 30. Having +50% haste (total of 150% haste) means that your hasted delay is 30 * 100 / 150 = 20. Having +125% haste (total of 225% haste) gives you a hasted delay of 30 * 100 / 225 ~= 13.33.
Haste comes in three basic versions, plus a special category, that each stack on top of eachother.
- Worn haste or item haste is found on items as the "Haste" stat, followed by a percentage, for example +36% on the Cloak of Flames. It is mostly found on belts and older cloaks, but can in theory be present on any item. Haste gained through Tribute also counts as worn.
- Spell haste, or v2 haste, is buffed by a large range of spells, mostly cast by shamans, enchanters and bards. An example is the spell Swift Like the Wind which provides 60% haste. Many clickies and potions exist that also provide v2 haste, for example Dark Cloak of the Sky, Eyepatch of Plunder and Distillate of Alacrity X.
- Overhaste, or v3 haste, is likewise buffed by spells. This is rather rare; mostly buffed by bard songs (for example Battlecry of the Vah Shir and a few clickies (for example Symbol of the Overlord.
- Certain disciplines, such as the Monk Speed Focus Discipline are special and stack with the above, providing even more haste. Quivers, such as Fleeting Quiver, provide Archery-only haste that also stacks with the above.
Together, worn haste and spell haste (v2) cannot exceed +100% (total of 200% haste). If you have 45% worn haste and get a 65% spell haste cast on you, your haste from the two combined caps out at +100% (total of 200%). Overhaste cannot exceed 25%, and will stack with any combination of worn haste and item haste. For example, if you have 36% worn haste, 50% spell haste and 10% overhaste, your haste is +96% (total of 196%). If you have +100% haste from a combination of worn and spell haste, and get +20% overhaste, your haste is now +120% (total of 220%).
Common to all three types is that only the highest haste in its category takes effect. If you have multiple items with worn haste, only the one with the highest value works, and the same holds true for spell and overhaste, in the case that the buffs even stack.
Purity is only found in relatively modern, visible (Arms, Chest, Feet, Hands, Head, Legs, Wrist) items, and is typically 50. It is furthermore found on certain augmentations, that usually purely provide Purity and nothing else.
Purity by itself does nothing. In order to benefit from it, players must first equip a Power Source. Each type of Power Source provides, at the base, an array of statistics; some positive, some negative. For example, the Pure Energeian Metal Orb provides the following modifiers:
Positive: AC, HP, FR, DR
Negative: CR, MR
How much positive and negative stats depends on your the Purity on the item (including Purity from augmentations). The Purity stat can be seen as a percentage, meaning that having 100 Purity on the item vs. having 50 Purity will double the stat benefits. For example, having 75 Purity on an item with the Power Source mentioned above results in the following stats:
+18 AC, +30 HP, +30 FR, +30 DR, -22 CR, -22 MR.
Looking at the item display window for an item with Purity, and while having a Power Source equipped, you will see that the affected stats are shown in green if they are boosted and red if they are diminished.
The seven main stats were in the game at release. Common to most of them is that they are largely irrelevant in the modern game, and have been for a long time.
Each stat caps at 255 up until level 61, at which point the cap for each increases by 5 per level. It can be further raised with the AA Planar Power (General tab), temporarily through spells, and each stat cap can separately be raised via certain AAs. Doing Dragons of Norrath progression can also raise your caps. Heroic stats (see later section) furthermore raise the cap for the old stats.
The effect of the old stats is the stuff of legends, as the explanations of what stats did was not released with the game. In April 2000, Brad McQuaid, the lead developer of EQ, released a message explaining broadly what stats did, although no formulas were released. Later on, tooltips were added the stats in-game with more concise explanations. We never know whether these effects have changed since then, so some effects are listed as being speculative. Listed primarily are the proven or most agreed-upon effects, and in order to help dispell myths, the old quotes from 2000 are included.
Tooltip: "Determines your encumberance limit and is a factor in melee damage"
April 2000 developer quote: "determines how much you can carry; influences maximum and average damage; influences how quickly you learn many offensive skills "
Increases your ATK rating, although it does not have the same powerful effect that real ATK does. Increases your weight capacity, allowing you to carry more stuff.
Speculative or old information: Supposedly increases the rate at which you learn offensive skills.
Tooltip: "Influences your hit points and endurance totals"
April 2000 developer quote: "affects how many hit points you have, how long you can hold your breath"
Increases your maximum hitpoints and endurance. The amount you get per point is based on your level and class; tank classes get more hitpoints per point.
Speculative or old information: Supposedly increases your air supply when under water or in airless environments.
Tooltip: "Influences your AC and helps you avoid incoming damage"
April 2000 developer quote: "affects how quickly you can learn some defensive skills, how difficult it is to hit you as well as how much damage you take when you are hit"
Increases your "avoidance AC" (see AC section), supposedly only up to 305 where it stops being effective. In spite of this, adding more AGI continues to increase the AC displayed to the player. If your AGI is very low, for example after being resurrected, you will be encumbered and move slowly, or possibly even be rooted. You will usually only encounter this situation at low levels where you have little to no stats.
Speculative or old information: Supposedly increases the rate at which you learn defensive skills.
Tooltip: "Influences success to make a successful attack, damage done, and chance to raise skills"
April 2000 developer quote: "how quickly you learn weapon skills; how often weapon will proc; how quickly you learn Rogue skills; how hard you hit with bows"
No noticable, documented effect has been found by players. The chance to raise skills is either too small to parse or just irrelevant in reality.
Speculative or old information: Supposedly increase the rate at which you proc (trigger combat effects) with weapons. Supposedly increase ranged damage such as archery and throwing. Supposedly increases the rate at which you learn weapon skills, and how quickly rogues learn their skills.
Tooltip: "Determines your mana (for some classes) and influences your chance to raise skills"
April 2000 developer quote: "affects the amount of mana the priest classes have, also rangers; also affects how quickly you can learn many skills if your wisdom is higher than INT."
Increases the mana pool for priests (Cleric, Druid, Shaman) and priest-based hybrids (Beastlord, Paladin, Ranger). The amount you get per point is based on your level and class. The chance to raise skills is either too small to parse or just irrelevant in reality.
Tooltip: "Determines your mana (for some classes) and influences your chance to raise skills"
April 2000 developer quote: "directly affects how quickly you can learn most skills; affects the amount of mana for bards and all mages, as well as shadow knights"
Increases the mana pool for casters (Enchanter, Magician, Necromancer, Wizard) and caster-based hybrids (Bard, Shadow Knight). The amount you get per point is based on your level and class. The chance to raise skills is either too small to parse or just irrelevant in reality.
Tooltip: "Influences princing on many vendors and influences success of charm and mesmerization spells"
April 2000 developer quote: "affects amount you will be paid for goods by NPC merchants, and how much they will pay you; affects the saving throw on certain Bard and Enchanter spells (charms in particular)"
Improves the prices you get when dealing with merchants (buy cheaper and sell higher) up to around 200. Up to around 200, affects the "roll" on charms and mesmerization spells for bards and enchanters. Every tick while having a monster charmed or mesmerized, a roll is thrown to determine whether to keep or break the charm, and higher CHA helps a very small bit (level difference makes the biggest impact) in keeping the charm or mesmerization.
As a response to the diminishing returns and ineffectiveness of most of the old stats, a new set of stats were created with the Secrets of Faydwer expansion. They are called heroic stats, or just heroics. Each heroic stat is loosely based upon an old stat, but with proven, noticable effects with no diminishing returns. They furthermore increase the cap on the old stats. Players can also gain extra heroic stats through Tribute.
Heroic stats are shown as a number in gold after the old stat on an item:
Developer quote: "Increases endurance pool, endurance regen, and the maximum amount of endurance regen a character can have. Also increases damage done by melee attacks and improves the bonus granted to armor class while using a shield."
Every 10 points of hSTR adds 1 point of damage on top of each melee hit. This is tiered by 10; for example a total of 49 hSTR adds 4 damage per hit, and a total of 50 hSTR adds 5 damage. The precise effect on AC from hSTR is unknown.
Developer quote: "Increases hit point pool, hit point regen, and the maximum amount of hit point regen a character can have. Also increases endurance pool, endurance regen, and the maximum amount of endurance regen a character can have."
Each point of hSTA adds 10 hitpoints (plus benefit from regular STA).
Developer quote: "Increases endurance pool, endurance regen, and the maximum amount of endurance regen a character can have. Also increases the chance to dodge an attack, grants a bonus to defense skill, and reduces falling damage."
Each point of hAGI adds +0.1% to your ability to perform Dodge in melee.
Developer quote: "Increases endurance pool, endurance regen, and the maximum amount of endurance regen a character can have. Also increases damage done by ranged attacks, improves chance to successfully assassinate or headshot, and improves the chance to riposte, block, and parry incoming attacks."
Each point of hDEX adds +0.1% to your ability to perform Parry and Riposte in melee.
Developer quote: "Increases mana pool, mana regen, and the maximum amount of mana regen a character can have."
Only provides benefit for WIS-based mana uers. Each point of hWIS adds 10 mana (plus benefit from regular WIS). Every 25 points of hWIS adds 1 point of mana regen. This is tiered by 25; for example a total of 124 hWIS adds 4 points of regen, and a total of 125 hWIS adds 5 points.
Developer quote: "Increases mana pool, mana regen, and the maximum amount of mana regen a character can have."
Only provides benefit for INT-based mana uers. Each point of hINT adds 10 mana (plus benefit from regular INT). Every 25 points of hINT adds 1 point of mana regen. This is tiered by 25; for example a total of 124 hINT adds 4 points of regen, and a total of 125 hINT adds 5 points.
Developer quote: "Improves reaction rolls with some NPCs and increases the amount of faction you gain or lose when faction is adjusted."
Increases the amount of faction you lose or gain with some (unknown which) newer factions, supposedly from Secrets of Faydwer and onwards. Faction loss and gain is supposedly boosted at a rate of 0.2% per point, with a cap of 100% (500 hCha) (unconfirmed).
The game launched with five resistances (schools), and they played an important role particularly in raiding for the first few years. Players would collect entire sets of "resist gear", often built towards a specific encounter. For example, Lord Nagafen had fire- and magic-based AoE spells, and players would work on increasing their fire and magic resist to combat it.
With The Serpent's Spine expansion, the first new resist was introduced: Corruption. It works in the same fashion as the old resists, except that gear with corruption resist is very scarce, and as such players don't automatically gain huge amounts of it, like the other resists.
Some spells have a "Chromatic" or "Prismatic" resist school. These are not resist types that players can raise; instead they work in the following way:
- Chromatic: Checks against the lowest out of all resists
- Prismatic: Checks against an average of all five main resists
When a spell is cast on you, your level and resistances are weighed against the level of the monster casting on you. If your resistance to the school in question is 0, the spell will almost always land. If your resistance is around 200 or above, you are very likely to resist it. Some spells, such as direct damage spells, can be partially resisted, whereas most detrimental spells such as snares, stuns, DoTs and other are either completely resisted or not. Some spells are unresistable and will always land (example: Tashani).
Resists continue to play an important role in determining resists against monster spells, but all new expansion content is balanced around players having abnormal amounts of resist, so it evens out. There is no modern gear that focuses heavily on resists in sacrifice of other stats.
Resists are capped at 500 until level 66 where the cap increases by 5 per level. Resists can be further increased by AAs in the General tab, by buffs and through Tribute.
If you look at the details for a spell on Lucy, you will see that some spells have a "Resist Adjust" field, which is a number. For example, let's say the number is -100. This means that when the spell is cast, 100 is subtracted from the monster's resist before the roll is made to determine whether or not the spell lands. The lower the number, the harder the spell is to resist. The resist adjust on the spells used by modern raid encounters is typically so high that players might as well have close to 0 resists. This is so that spells continue to be a dangerous aspect of modern content, in spite of players gaining more and more.
Poison school spells include Necromancer, Shadow Knight and Shaman nukes and DoTs. Poison DoTs are usually fast-acting.
Magic school spells are usually all sorts of detrimental spells that do not do damage, such as stun, fear, mesmerization, charm, root, snare and many other. Magic-based nukes and DoTs also exist.
Disease school spells are mostly long-lasting DoTs, and a few select Shaman slows.
Fire school spells are mostly nukes from wizards, magicians and druids.
Cold (also called Frost) school spells are mostly nukes from wizards, shamans and druids.
Corruption school spells for players are rare, and are also very rarely used by monsters.
Skill modifiers add a percentage to an existing skill you have. This stat is not very common, but probably most well-known from the tradeskill trophies that provide up to a +15% bonus to a certain tradeskill. Items that improve combat skills also exist. A few examples:
- Intricate Jewelers Glass (+15% Jewelry Making)
- Mechanized Lockpicks (+2% Pick Lock)
- Animated Bait (+3% Fishing)
- Fetish of the Agile (+4% Dodge)
No skill modifiers of the same skill stack. If you have two items with the same modifier, the highest one takes precedence.
"Mod2" are the second evolvement of skill modifiers, and were hence nicknamed Mod2. In-game, on the character sheet (Stats tab), they are just called Mods. There are 16 different Mod2s that each provide benefits of varying impact. Mod2s were introduced with the Gates of Discord expansion, and first of all collated various existing worn item effects into unified stats. For example, the Fungus Covered Scale Tunic used to have a worn effect called Fungal Regrowth, a spell providing +15 HP / tick regen, and this was changed to a Mod2 that simply gives +15 HP regen, stacking with everything.
Some Mod2s are extremely valuable, but as with many other stats, inflation has sought to make them "automatically" maxed if you wear enough modern, high-end gear. Thus it's not really something that the average player has to consider or weigh their options with.
Tooltip: "Increase the rate at which you will trigger proc spells during melee"Found as the "Combat Eff" Mod2 on items. Supposedly, 1 point gives you 1% more chance to proc, meaning that 100 Combat Effects doubles (+100%) your chance to proc. Cap of 100.
Tooltip: "The number of hit points you will regenerate while in combat"Found as the "HP Regen" Mod2 on items. The displayed number is combined with your innate regeneration, plus regeneration from spells. No cap.
Tooltip: "The number of mana points you will regenerate while in combat"Found as the "Mana Regen" Mod2 on items. The displayed number is combined with your innate regeneration, plus regeneration from spells. No cap.
Tooltip: "The number of endurance points you will regenerate while in combat"Found as the "End Regen" Mod2 on items - but extremely rarely. The displayed number is combined with your innate regeneration, plus regeneration from spells. No cap.
Tooltip: "Reduces the base damage of incoming instant spell attacks"Found as the "Spell Shield" Mod2 on items. Each point reduces the amount of damage you take from direct damage spells (nukes) by 1%. This also influences old-world Death Touches (spell Cazic Touch, used heavily in Plane of Sky for example), making you "only" take 65,000 damage instead of 100,000 when this Mod2 is capped. Cap of 35.
Tooltip: "Reduces the base damage of incoming melee attacks"Found as the "Shielding" Mod2 on items. Each point reduces the damage bonus (see AC section) part of the hit you take by 1%. Cap of 35.
Tooltip: "Adds damage to any damage shield effect you have"Found as the "Dmg Shield" Mod2 on items. Each point adds a point of damage on top of damage shields you have on you. It requires that you have a form of damage shield present, so just having 10 Damage Shield will not make you have an innate damage shield without a damage shield spell or AA present. Cap of 35.
Tooltip: "Reduces the base damage of incoming damage-over-time spell attacks"Found as the "DoT Shield" Mod2 on items. Each point reduces the amount of damage you take from DoT spells, per tick, by 1%. Cap of 35.
Tooltip: "Reduces the damage you take from damage shield effects on your target"Found as the "Dmg Shld Mit" Mod2 on items. Each point reduces the amount of damage you take when hitting a monster with a damage shield, by 1 damage per point. Cap of 25.
Tooltip: "Adds to your ability to avoid incoming melee attacks"Found as the "Avoidance" Mod2 on items. Each point increases the "avoidance" part of your AC by 0.1%, which is similar to what is increased by your Defense skill and AAs such as Combat Agility. Cap of 100.
Tooltip: "Adds to your ability to make a successful melee attack"Found as the "Accuracy" Mod2 on items. Reduces your chance of missing with melee attacks. Each point reduces your miss chance by 0.1%. For example, if you have a base 25% miss chance (determined by many other factors) against a monster, and 50 Accuracy, your miss chance is reduced by 5% (50 * 0.1%) of 25% = 1,25%, bringing your miss chance down to 23,75%. Cap of 150.
Tooltip: "Increases the chance for you to resist stun effects"Found as the "Stun Resist" Mod2 on items. Each point reduces the risk of being stunned by melee (mostly bash and kick) by 1%. Note that AAs that reduce the risk of being stunned, such as the Monk AA Unflinching Resolve (Class tab), are checked for first, then the Stun Resist Mod2 is checked. Thus, the bonus from AA and Stun Resist are not additive, and reaching 100% immunity from stuns isn't possible just from the two. Cap of 35.
Tooltip: "Allows your melee attacks to bypass your opponent's active defenses"Found as the "Strik Thr" Mod2 on items. Each point increases your chance of bypassing a monster's Block, Dodge, Parry and Riposte check, although the check does not bypass an initial miss, so to speak. Cap of 35.
Tooltip: "Adds to the effectiveness of your healing spells"Found as the "Heal Amount" Mod2 on items. Each point adds healing on top of your healing spells cast, scaled by an unknown formula mainly based on the cast time of the spell. Procs and instant-cast spells still receive some bonus. Supposedly restricted to spells above level 75. No cap.
Tooltip: "Adds to the effectiveness of your damage spells"Found as the "Spell Dmg" Mod2 on items. Each point adds damage on top of your direct damage spells (not DoTs) cast, scaled by an unknown formula mainly based on the cast time of the spell. Procs and instant-cast spells still receive some bonus. Supposedly restricted to spells above level 75. No cap.
Tooltip: "Adds a chance to return mana to you on a successful spell cast"Found as the "Clairvoiyance" Mod2 on items. All players with 1 or more Clairvoiyance receive a fixed chance of gaining mana back upon a successful spell cast. Each point increases the amount of mana you gain back, by an unknown formula. Supposedly restricted to spells above level 75. No cap.
Skill Damage Mods increase the damage done by certain class-specific skills. They all work in the sense that every hit you perform of the skill type gets the value added on top of it.
- Bash - All Bash-capable classes. Cap of 100.
- Backstab - Rogue. Cap of 125.
- Dragon Punch - Monk. Cap of 100.
- Eagle Strike - Monk. Cap of 100.
- Flying Kick - Monk. Cap of 100.
- Kick - All Kick-capable classes. Cap of 100.
- Round Kick - Monk. Cap of 100.
- Tiger Claw - Monk. Cap of 100.
- Frenzy - Berserker. Cap of 125.
Of all the Monk skills, you will generally only find Kick and Flying Kick mods.
An Effect on an item can be either a spell that can be cast by right-clicking on the item, or a so-called worn effect that provides a permanent, innate spell bonus as long as the item is equipped.
cleave, procs, see invisible ravenscale mask
Worn effects are permanently active on the player as long as the item is equipped and say (Worn) after the name. Examples of armor with worn effects are Ravenscale Mask (permanent See Invisible) and Rustic Armwraps of the Unwavering (Cleave effect increase chance to critical hit and adds a damage bonus). No worn effects of the same type stack. If you have two items with the same type of effect, the highest (where applicable) one takes precedence.
Weapons with worn effects sometimes have effects with (Combat) after the name. This means that each time the weapon is swung, there is a chance that a spell will go off, either affecting the target or the player; most often the former. These effects are also called "procs". Examples are Soul Leech, Dark Sword of Blood (75 point lifetap), Locustlure (slow spell) and Divine Hammer of Consternation (procs Divine Aura on the player).
The rate at which weapons proc varies from weapon to weapon, as all weapons have a hidden proc rate modifier (hidden stat "procrate"). The proc rate on weapons you wield can overall be increased with the AA Weapon Affinity (Archetype tab) and the Mod2 Combat Effects.
Monsters wielding weapons with procs will too proc them, and much more often than players.
Items with an effect that also lists a casting time (can be Instant) are right-clicked to cast a spells. Such items are called "clickies". It used to hold true that the vast majority of items had to be equipped in order to be clicked, but this restriction was largely lifted with the Veil of Alaris expansion. The player must still have the correct race and class in order to be able to click the item.
The most popular clickies provide players with buffs otherwise not avaiable to them. Examples are Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring (ATK buff), Transcended Fistwraps of Immortality (epic weapon; heals and increases maximum HP) and Thane Ring (overhaste).
Click effects sometimes have a Recast Delay listed. When clicked, the item will "cool down" until it is ready to be clicked again.
With the Secrest of Faydwer expansion, many effects (worn or clicked) were normalized onto certain slots, so that players no longer had to shuffle items around for certain effects. For example, most cloaks the player finds have a click effect named Illusionary Spikes, tiered from 1 to 11 (example: Illusionary Spikes X. Later expansions continue this trend. The effects per slot are:
- Arms - Worn: increase chance to critical hit and sometimes damage bonus (example: Cleave IX - 10)
- Back - Clickie: Damage Shield (example: Illusionary Spikes X)
- Chest - Clickie: Class-specific beneficial buff (example: Five Rings Fist Technique)
- Ear - Clickie: ATK buff (example: Might of Stone V) or rune (example: Geomantra X), Worn: Archery/Throwing accuracy increase (example: Sharpshooting V)
- Face - Clickie: HP buff (example: Form of Endurance X)
- Fingers - Clickie: HP and mana regeneration (example: Knowledge of the Past X), ATK buff (example: Might of Stone V) or AC buff (example: Form of Defense X)
- Head - Worn: See Invisible, Ultravision and Water Breathing (example: Faerune)
- Legs - Worn: Increased chance to double or triple attack and damage modifier (example: Ferocity X)
- Neck - Worn: Increased chance to block and parry (example: Improved Parry / Block V)
- Range - Clickie: Resistances and AC buff (example: Prismatic Ward X), Worn: Increased chance to dodge (example: Improved Dodge V). Ranged weapons (bows) furthermore have a damaging proc like melee weapons.
- Shoulders - Clickie: Increased chance to dodge (example: Myrmidon's Skill X)
- Waist - Clickie: Mana pool buff (example: Expanding Mind X)
- Weapon (Primary/Secondary) - Worn: Damaging proc (example: Chaotic Strike V)
Focus effects are found on gear and enhance spell casting. They are listed at the bottom of an item's stat window. The earliest form of focus was the Flowing Through effect (mana regen), introduced during the Scars of Velious expansion, as a way of letting casters gain more bonus from their gear. Today, a myriad of effects exist that provide more damage and healing, faster spell casting, longer buff durations and more.
Focus effects are usually made with new names for a new expansion, and then tiered with numbers I, II, III, etc. You can usually trace the type of focus from expansion to expansion, as they do the same, just with increased level ranges. An example of a focus effect from the Veil of Alaris expansion:
The actual spell effect behind the focus effect is Cold Damage 15-70 L95, or the friendly name "Chill of the Depths I". What this means is that, based on the casting time on the cold-based direct damage spell (longer casting time gets more bonus), between 15% and 70% damage is added. The decay (line 2, "Limit: Max Level(95) (lose 5% per level over cap)") means that for every level a spell is above level 95, you lose 5% of the bonus. If the bonus for a spell you cast is 70%, and the spell is level 98 (3 levels above 95) you will lose 3*5 = 15% of 70%, or 10.5% effectiveness, bringing the total effectiveness to 59.5%.
Focus effects started out being present rather randomly on gear, but since the Secrets of Faydwer expansion, certain types of focus have had fixed item slots assigned, so that players can rely on always having them with a set of the latest gear. The assigned slots are:
- Arms - Cleric and Shaman: Increases the potency of healing spells (example: Growth of the Bosque I [Heal 35-70 L100]), other classes: Increases the damage of fire-based spells (example: Fire of the Forge I [Fire Damage 15-70 L95])
- Back - Increases the duration of beneficial spells (buffs) (example: Lengthy Refrain [Beneficial Duration 26 L95])
- Ear - Increases the duration of detrimental spells (debuffs) (example: Spite of the Immortal [Detrimental Duration 26 L90])
- Face - Increases the range of detrimental spells (example: Extension of the Alliz Tae Ew [Detrimental Range 27 L90])
- Feet - Reduces the cast time of beneficial spells (example: Chill of the Depths I [Cold Damage 15-70 L95])
- Fingers - Reduces the mana cost of beneficial spells (example: Constance of the Companions [Beneficial Mana Pres 17 L90]) - or - Increases the range of beneficial spells (example: Vision of the Living Spirit [Beneficial Range 27 L90])
- Hands - Increases the damage of cold-based spells (example: Fire of the Forge I [Fire Damage 15-70 L95])
- Head - Increases the damage of magic-based spells (example: Potency of the Pillar I [Magic Damage 15-70 L95])
- Legs - Reduces the cast time of detrimental spells (example: Imprudent Abandon [Detrimental Haste 18 L100])
- Neck - Increases the potency of healing spells (example: Growth of the Bosque I [Heal 35-70 L100])
- Range - Increases the damage of corruption-based spells (example: Corrupted Sylvan's Rot I [Corruption Damage 35-70 L100])
- Shoulders - Reduces the mana cost of detrimental spells (example: Custody of Aversion [Detrimental Mana Pres 17 L100])
- Weapon (Primary, caster weapons only) - Has a chance to return mana to you each time you cast a damaging spell (example: Sympathetic Alleviating Burst VI) - or - Has a chance to return mana to you each time you cast a healing spell (example: Sympathetic Invigorating Burst V)
- Wrist - Druid: Increases the potency of healing spells (example: Growth of the Bosque I [Heal 35-70 L100]), other classes: Increases the damage of poison-based spells (example: Venom of the Ancients [Poison Damage 20-70 L95]) - or - Increases the damage of disease-based spells (example: Filth of the Swinetaur I [Disease Damage 15-70 L95])
On class-specific gear, focus effects that would provide no benefit for the class are usually not present at all. No focus effects of the same type stack. If you have two items with the same type of focus, the highest one takes precedence.
Many other special focus effects also exist that provide very specific benefits. For example, all the Epic 1.5 and 2.0 weapons have focus effects that for example reduce the re-use timer on disciplines, enhance spell casting, etc. For example, the Monk Epic 2.0 (Transcended Fistwraps of Immortality) has a focus effect that reduces the re-use timer on Innerflame Discipline by 480 seconds.
In the classic era, a few items existed that increased the power of summoned Magician and Necromancer pets. By equipping the item and summoning a pet, the pet would be of higher level and have improved stats. The items were rather mysterious, as they did not explain what they did, but players figured it out. They have later been changed to show a real focus effect. Examples: Staff of Elemental Mastery: Air (improves Magician air pets) and Encyclopedia Necrotheurgia (improves Necromancer pets).
Weapons are bound to an offense weapon skill that the player must posses in order to be able to equip the weapon. Which weapon skills the player has is solely determined by class. The possible weapon skills are: 1H Blunt, 1H Slashing, 2H Blunt, 2H Slashing, Archery, Hand to Hand, Piercing, 2h Piercing and Throwing.
The base damage of a weapon determines how hard the weapon can hit. The value is multiplied by several factors, such as the player's weapon skill, and the amount the player actually hits for is usually much larger than the listed number. At very low levels there is an artificial cap on how hard the player can hit, regardless of weapon damage.
For Rogues, this damage is used instead of the Base Dmg for calculating the damage of their Backstab skill.
The delay in tenths of a second indicates how often the player will swing with the weapon. For example, a delay of 30 means that the weapon will swing every 3.0 seconds. Dual wielding weapons operate independently.
Indicates the bonus damage applied to each hit. This value is larger on weapons with a large delay, and goes up as the player levels. The number is only shown for melee classes and is just there for information. It does not vary between weapons with the same delay for the same player.
Listed at the bottom of the item display window and only found on weapons. This bonus damage is added to the base damage on each hit when fighting monsters of a certain race, specified on the weapon. Bane Damage was mostly a gimmick for the Shadows of Luclin expansion, against raid targets.
On the item display window (right-click and hold on an item), the first line after the item's name often shows several tags. The possible tags are:
- * - Not really a tag, but items with a * after their name are newbie items, mostly created with the character. New characters typically start with a stack of food, water and bandages, a backpack, a few spells and a weapon. By handing in their newbie note, they get a chest item that also has the * (example: Green Sr Apprentice Robe*)
- Artifact - The item is unique on the server. Such items were mostly handed out during GM events and are extremely rare. Examples: The Prime Healer's Bulwark and Oakwynd.
- Attunable - The item is tradeable when looted, but will receive the No Trade tag once equipped the first time, and no longer be tradeable.
- Augmentation - The item is an augmentation.
- Copied - The item has been copied from Live to Test with the /testcopy command. Affects nothing at all, just a tag.
- Heirloom - The item is not tradeable through normal means, but can be shared amongst characters on the same account through the shared bank (only on the same server).
- Infusible - The item has the Purity stat and a slot for an aug that provides Purity.
- Lore (old: LORE ITEM) - You can only have one Lore item in your inventory or bank. You can have one Lore item on you and another in the shared bank of your account, but you cannot pick up a Lore item from your shared bank again if you have the same in your inventory or your regular bank.
- Magic (old: MAGIC ITEM) - Magic weapons allow you to hit magic monsters, such as willowisps and many other. Magic gloves likewise allow you to punch magic monsters. Magic items cannot be pickpocketed by rogues. Every relevant modern piece of gear since Kunark has been Magic, so this stat was only really of relevance in the newbie levels of the classic era.
- No Bank - The item cannot be put in a bank. Actual use unknown.
- No Destroy - The item cannot be destroyed.
- No Ground - Unknown, used for example by the Krono.
- No Pet - The item cannot be given to pets. Used rarely, mostly on quest items. It has also been put on a few weapons that proc a slow, in an attempt to prevent players from handing powerful proc weapons to pets (example: Di`zok Oracle Shillelagh).
- No Storage - The item cannot be stored in a bank, shared bank, guild hall, house or yard.
- No Trade (old: NO DROP) - The item cannot be traded to other players (but can be traded to NPCs) or dropped on the ground.
- No Transfer - The item will not transfer with you if you perform a server transfer. Very rarely used.
- Placeable - The item can be placed in guild halls, houses and yards, and will be seen as a 3D model where you place it.
- Prestige - The item's stats and benefits only take effect for players with a Gold subscription.
- Quest - The item is used in a quest. This tag has not been properly applied to all quest-related items in the game, so don't rely fully on it.
- Temporary (old: NO RENT) - The item disappears 30 minutes after logging out of the game. Temporary items are mostly items summoned by Magicians for example, but temporary keys also exist in older zones.
Lists the classes that can equip the item, or ALL if all classes can. NONE means that no players can equip it, and indirectly means that it's made for pets, which do not have a class.
Lists the races that can benefit from equipping the item, or ALL if all races can. Any race can equip items not marked usable for their race, but they will not gain any stats or effects from it (yellow background). NONE means that no players can equip it, and indirectly means that it's made for pets, which do not have a race.
Most items that are class-restricted will also list the races that can possibly be of the listed classes, but truly race-restricted items (for example, only Gnomes) are fairly uncommon and were mostly an issue in the classic era, with certain quests providing race-specific items.
On equippable gear and augmentations, a list of gear slots indicate which slots the item or aug can be put in. Augmentations often have many slots listed, and most regular items only have one. A few peculiar items can be equipped in multiple slots, such as Shield of the Immaculate (Back and Secondary) and Aged Pulsating Gem (Neck, Primary and Secondary).
Virtually all equippable items have at least one augmentation slot. A little box plus some text indicates that an augmentation of a certain type can be put in the item to enhance it.
Type 20 and Type 21 slots (Ornamentations) are listed at the top, other are listed at the bottom.
The size of an item is one of the following: TINY, SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE or GIANT. All containers have a Size Cap, and items larger than the container can hold cannot be put in said container.
Item size is largely irrelevant today, as all modern containers can hold GIANT items. The size of one particular item - the Wurmslayer - caused so much unintended trouble that its size was reduced from GIANT to LARGE with the February 21, 2001 patch. Players trading the item would sometimes experience that they had no GIANT container (nor a free general inventory slot) to hold it, and thus the item would simply fall to the ground as the trade was made, making it a target of scamming.
Item size also used to be relevant in terms of which size armor the different races could equip. Large races needed large-sized crafted armor (such as Banded), small races needed small-sized armor, and so forth. This is an obsolete aspect of the game.
The weight of all items, containers and items in containers you have on you are tallied up and compared to your maximum weight limit, which is simply your STR. If you go over your weight limit, you will become encumbered and receive a message in red text about it. Being more and more encumbered gradually slows down your movement speed, to the point where you finally cannot move at all. If you're stuck encumbered, getting a STR buff or a movement-enhancing buff might allow you you to move again.
Weight used to be an important aspect of the game, but as player STR has skyrocketed, coin no longer has weight (as of the September 3, 2008 patch), and almost all bags have 100% weight reduction, weight is mostly only an issue at low levels. The exception is for the Monk class, which retains their old weight restriction, and Monks will lose AC gradually as they go over their very low weight limit.
Only found on containers. The number indicates the percentage by which items placed in the container will have their weight reduced. Goes up to 100, and almost all modern large bags have 100% weight reduction (WR).
An extra aspect of weight reduction is also that for quivers, such as Fleeting Quiver, the weight reduction also provides Archery-only haste equal to a third of the weight reduction. A quiver with 60% weight reduction thus provides 20% Archery haste.
Only found on containers, indicates how many items the container can hold. For ages, the maximum bag size was 10 slots, but this was finally increased with the House of Thule expansion. Modern bags can have over 30 slots.
The maximum size of items that can be put in the container. Can be TINY, SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE or GIANT.
Introduced with the Shadows of Luclin expansion, the level indicates at which level the item will have its maximum stats. When equipped below that level, the stats scale down; how much depends on how far you are from its recommended level. Items with no required level (see next section) will scale down to almost nothing at level 1.
Introduced with the Shadows of Luclin expansion, the level indicates at which level the item provides stats when equipped. Players can equip any item with a required level, but will not gain any stats or effects from it until they meet at least the required level.
An item with the EXPENDABLE tag, positioned near the bottom of the item display window, will also list the number of charges it has. After using all its charges, the item vanishes into thin air. Examples are Philter of Unlife Awareness and Ceremonial Elixir of Scholarship.
An item with charges has a clickie effect. The number of charges can be "Unlimited", or a number which decreases by 1 every time it is clicked, before finally reaching 0. Some items can be recharged in special ways. Examples include Cobalt Bracer (unlimited charges of Shrink) and Vermilion Sky Ring (2 charges of Feign Death). Potions often combine the EXPENDABLE and Charges tag, making them disappear when the charge(s) is/are used.
Evolving items grow stronger as they are equipped and the player gains experience. Most items grow stronger from killing any monster that grants experience, but some items only grow as the player gains experience from killing certain monsters. Evolving items have "levels", for example 3, and will start at level 0/3 upon being looted. Each level gained can increase statistics, weapon damage, add procs, or change its appearance. When you have an evolving item equipped, you can follow its progress in your character window, on the Evolution tab. The progress is saved on the item itself, and will carry on if the item is traded to another character.
Evolving items were a bit of a gimmick, and are not used much today.
The item can be used in some sort of tradeskill combine. Most commonly seen on the world-wide random drop components such as Silk, Animal Pelts and Ore.
The item can be put in the potion belt (UI element) and activated from there.
A player cannot posses more than one item with the same Lore Group. This is most prominently used on Epic 1.5 and 2.0 weapons (example: Fistwraps of Celestial Discipline (Monk 1.5) and Transcended Fistwraps of Immortality (Monk 2.0)), which are in the "Epic Weaponry" Lore Group. This ensures that no one can posses both Epic 1.5 and 2.0 at the same time.
On some items this tag is not displayed, but still in effect. Examples include similar augmentations that players are only supposed to have one of.
If an equipped item has a background color, it means that the player is not gaining any effects from it. The possible background colors are:
- Yellow: The player has not reached the Required Level the item has.
- Purple: The item is tagged 'Prestige', and the player's account type is not able to use these items (requires Gold subscription).
Players equipping modern gear are left with little choice compared to the classic days of EverQuest, where stats were not so normalized and abundant. A few slots or stats still present decisions that can be weighed for and against.
A debate for the ages is AC vs. HP. To put it briefly, there is no comparing the two, as they do completely different things. More AC lowers - on average, not consistently - the damage a player takes from melee hits. More hitpoints simply absorb damage, including spell damage, against which AC does nothing.